In medical applications, such as with assisted breathing, the gases inhaled by a patient or user are preferably delivered in a condition having humidity near saturation level and at close to body temperature (usually at a temperature between 33° C. and 37° C.). In facilitating delivery of gases to a patient in such preferred conditions, breathing tubes (or medical tubes) may be used. Such tubes may take various shapes and configurations. One generally used configuration is (at least) an externally corrugated tube.
In various instances, the corrugated tubing is advantageously placed or positioned in certain locations relative to the patient or user. For example, the tubing may need to be held in a position or supported such that the weight of the tubing such not exert forces on the patient or user or other associated medical devices they may be using, such as masks or other interfaces. Enabling the positioning, support and adjustment of tubing between various further positioned or supported positions for patients or users would be beneficial.
In this specification, where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.